Longevity Study Indicates Fitness Can't Counter Problems Of Fatness

December 23, 2004|By Rob Stein, the Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- Physical activity can offset some of the harmful health consequences of being overweight but cannot fully erase them, according to the biggest study to examine the relative benefits of being fit versus fat.

The study of more than 115,000 female nurses found weight and activity levels are both powerful predictors of longevity, and that being either overweight or sedentary independently increases the risk of death.

The study concluded that the healthiest people are those who are both thin and physically active, a blow to those who have argued that fitness is more important than fatness and can offset the risks of being overweight.

Women who were obese and inactive had the highest mortality -- 2.5 times that of women who were thin and active.

Those who were physically active despite being obese were still nearly twice as likely to die before those who were lean and active.

"Physical activity reduces the effects of being overweight, but it's far from removing all the increased risk associated with obesity," said Frank Hu, an associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, who led the study being published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

"This data does not support the hypothesis that if you are physically active you don't have to worry about your weight."

Proponents of fitness welcomed the findings that physical activity is important but questioned the conclusion that being overweight and healthy were mutually exclusive.

"We live in a society where it's, `obesity, obesity, obesity,' and we're missing the point. Obesity is symptom of poor behavior, which is physical inactivity and poor diet," said Timothy Church, medical director of the Cooper Institute, a Dallas research center that focuses on fitness.

"I'm still convinced it is possible to be overweight, active and healthy."